Part Four When God made the universe...

Transcription

1 Part Four When God made the universe... 1

2 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2) The story of creation in the Book of Genesis has often been used to fuel the battle between science and religion, a battle that fails to acknowledge the points of agreement between science and religion. In this part of our Religious Education course, we will commence with the story of Galileo to illustrate the attempts to forge a healthy relationship between religion and science. Then we will use "the Way," which is the early Christian Church's way of describing its religion, as a structure to guide our study of the relationship between religion and science: 4.1 Galileo 4.2 Scripture 4.3 Liturgy 4.4 Doctrine 4.5 Morality 2

3 4.1 The story of Galileo There has been no incident in the history of the Catholic Church so clearly misunderstood as that involving Galileo Galilei ( ). For centuries, the opponents of the Catholic Church have used the story of his condemnation to show that science and Catholic dogma are antagonistic. Many have made the claim that the free pursuit of truth became possible only after science had been freed from the tyranny of medieval theology. It is regrettable that historians have seemed reluctant to present a balanced view of what happened in the case of Galileo. This situation changed in the latter half of the twentieth century when Pope John Paul II directed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to establish the truth of what had happened to Galileo. Some thirteen years after they commenced their investigation, Pope John Paul apologised publicly to the descendants of Galileo. Does this mean that the Catholic Church was at war with science for four centuries? The answer is a clear "No," but there was misunderstanding and misrepresentation, narrow-mindedness and malice on both sides of the conflict between Galileo and some leaders of the Church during Galileo's lifetime that made it easy for people to accuse the Church of being against science. What now follows is an attempt to show how this came about. Nicholas Copernicus ( ) The story of Galileo began in 1543, 21 years before he was born when Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish canon - it is unclear if he was ever ordained a priest - published On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs. In his book, Copernicus produced evidence to show that earth revolved around the sun. Historians mark this event as the birth of modern science. Galileo Galilei ( ) Copernicus thesis was not new. Ancient Greek philosophers had proposed a heliocentric view of the universe, but the geocentric theory championed by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle ( BC), and which was supported by Ptolemy (90-168), the famous Greco- Roman mathematician, was preferred by theologians. The view of St Ambrose ( ) was typical: To discuss the nature and position of the earth does not help us in our hope of the life to come. The publication of Copernicus book challenged the prevailing understanding of science, which was regarded by many to be simply a way of coordinating data with no bearing on the ultimate reality of things. Science existed to save appearances and astronomy and mathematics were considered to be the playthings of educated, rich people. Against this background, it is worth noting that Copernicus published his book at the 3

4 urging of two bishops. He dedicated his work to Pope Paul III, who received it graciously. Journal Activity Go outside tonight and spend 5 minutes in silence just looking up at the sky. When you are ready, go inside and sit down and record your thoughts about what you gazed upon. Also recall what you felt as you gazed at the night sky. Be prepared to share your reflection with your RE class the next time you meet. Despite the support of Church leaders, Copernicus work went largely unnoticed. It took the work of Kepler and Galileo to have people accept the heliocentric hypothesis as not just saving appearances but to be physically true. Galileo burst on the scene in 1610 with his startling telescopic discoveries. He was a gifted tinkerer who heard about the invention of the telescope in Holland and then made one for himself. With his telescope, he shook the foundations of the Aristotelian cosmos. First, he observed that the moon was not a perfect sphere. It had mountains and valleys, like the earth. Second, he discovered that Jupiter had at least four moons. No longer could people say that heavenly bodies revolve only around the earth. Third, when he observed the phases of Venus, he had to conclude that the planet moved around the sun and not the earth. The responses to Galileo s discoveries were mixed. The leading Jesuit astronomer at the time was Fr Christopher Clavius. He was skeptical at first, but when he confirmed Galileo s claims with a telescope that the Church purchased, his fellow Jesuits adopted a modified version of Copernicus hypothesis, which was proposed by Tycho Brahe. Meanwhile, Galileo travelled to Rome, where he was congratulated by Cardinals and by Pope Paul V who assured him of his support and good will. When Galileo returned to Florence, he spent the next twenty years trying to convince people of the truth of the Copernican model of the solar system. Had he been a tactful person, things would have worked out differently for him - and for the relationship between science and Christianity, however, he took pleasure in putting down those who opposed him and tried to make them look ridiculous. Galileo published a series of pamphlets through which he promoted the heliocentric view of the solar system. Along the way, he attempted to use theology to prove the truth of the theory. He antagonised Church leaders who turned against him. His famous Letter to Castelli created problems for him despite the validity of his theological position. Keeping in mind the teaching that the Bible is intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go, Galileo pointed out that both St Augustine ( ) and St Thomas Aquinas ( ) taught that the writers of the Bible never intended to teach a system of astronomy. They often made use of figurative language, but never meant to teach science. 4

5 Galileo s campaign was ill-timed. The Church was emerging from years of bitter conflict with the Protestant Churches, referred to as the Reformation. One of the areas of conflict was the private interpretation of scripture. Galileo s arguments presented his personal interpretations and his action provoked a strong reaction from influential elements in the Church. Towards the end of 1614, Thomas Caccini, a Dominican priest from Florence, preached a fiery sermon denouncing Copernicanism and science: they were presented as being contrary to Christian faith. His parishioners recognised his sermon as an attack on Galileo. A Preacher-General of the Dominican Order wrote an apology to Galileo, but that did nothing to lessen Galileo s anger at being targetted from the pulpit. A month later, another Dominican priest wrote to the Inquisition in Rome and condemned Galileo for his view of scripture, however, the leader of the Inquisition found nothing objectionable about Galileo s statements. Early in 1615, Caccini went to Rome and demanded the right to testify against Galileo. For a second time, the case was dismissed by the Inquisition. What is the Inquisition? In 1542 Pope Paul III established the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition as a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials. It had the tasks of maintaining and defending the integrity of the faith and of examining and condemning errors and false doctrines; it thus became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. Arguably the most famous case tried by the Roman Inquisition involved Galileo in Cardinal Barberini, who would become Pope Urban VII, warned Galileo to be patient, but he refused to listen and continued to argue for Copernicanism to be accepted as truth. Enter Cardinal Robert Bellarmine ( ), one of the most important theologians of the Catholic Reformation. In April, 1615, he wrote unofficially to Galileo and challenged him to prove his theory, or stop stirring up the Church. St Robert Bellarmine ( ) The argument put forward by Galileo to support Copernicanism was considered by many to be irrelevant. Sensing he was going to lose, Galileo went to Rome and confronted Pope Paul V, who chose to refer the matter to the Inquisition. This time, they issued a statement that the Copernican theory is foolish and absurd, philosophically and formally heretical inasmuch as it expressly contradicts the doctrine of Holy Scripture in many passages... On February 26, 1616, a report was put into the files of the Inquisition which stated that Galileo was told to deny Copernicanism and commanded him to abstain altogether from teaching or defending this opinion and doctrine, and 5

6 even from discussing it. Galileo was unaware of this report. In 1623, when his friend Cardinal Barberini was elected Pope Urban VIII, he thought he could get the decree of 1616 lifted. He had several private audiences with the Pope, who was a vain man who thought he was qualified to make pronouncements about any topic that was raised with him. He informed his friend that people were incapable of knowing how he planets moved. Only God could know how the solar system is structured. Galileo set about writing his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which he attacked the defenders of Aristotle and Ptolemy and referred to them as intellectual clowns. His strongest words were saved for the Pope. He created a character called Simplicio who was clearly a silly mouthpiece for Pope Urban s views on cosmology. Further to this, he alienated the Jesuits by also attacking their astronomer Fr Horatio Grassi over the nature of comets. parting of the ways between faith and science. By this time, Galileo was a sick old man. He was summoned to appear before the Inquisition. The report on file was produced. Galileo had violated the directive to never discuss heliocentricism and he was condemned as vehemently suspected of heresy. His books were placed on the Index, that is, Catholics were banned from reading his books under the pain of excommunication. Even though Copernicanism had never been declared heretical by the Church, he was ordered to reject heliocentricism and to keep silent on the subject for the rest of his life. He spent the rest of his life in a country house outside Florence. The way Galileo was treated by the Inquisition was unjust, however, does not justify the accusation that the Church has an anti-science stance. Eventually, his books were removed from the Index. In 1822, Pope Pius VII directed the Holy Office (formerly known as the Inquisition) to grant an imprimatur to the work of The outcome of his tactic was the famous second trial in 1633, which is still celebrated in song and myth as the final Canon Settele, in which Copernicanism was presented as a physical fact and no longer as just an hypothesis. 6

7 4.2 What the Bible tells me... stars were set in a dome-like structure Before considering what is in the Bible that relates to cosmology, watch the following clip: v=kyxwxkodkd4 In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. (Mark 1:35) When the first Christians spoke about Jesus, they did so from within the framework of a threetiered universe. He was "born of a woman," died and was buried. He "descended into hell" and on the third day rose from the dead. he "ascended into heaven" and sits there in judgment of all who have ever lived and will live. These are beliefs and teachings found in the New Testament. Jesus knew, just as we do today, that the sun rose in the east and set in the west. His was a very basic view of the world: the movements of the sun, the moon and the stars were miraculous. When Jesus looked up at the sky, he believed - as did everyone in his culture - that he was at the Journal-writing Activity List twelve facts about the universe that people know now, but Jesus would not have known because of the limitations of his knowledge of the universe. Then write a psalm thanking God for the aspects of creation, which you have listed. Use Psalm 136 as a model for your psalm. centre of the universe. The sun, moon and (traditionally known as "the firmament"), which enclosed the earth and separated the waters above the earth from the ocean and rivers. Jesus believed that God resided in the top tier. Humans could not enter there unless God took them there - and that was a gift given to very few... until Jesus came. We have a representation of this belief in the Lord's Prayer. We pray "Our Father, who art in heaven..." Almost instinctively, we look upwards to "heaven." We call that which is above us "the heavens," that space, which contains the sun, the moon and the stars. Jesus would have looked up at the sky and recalled the words of the psalmist, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that 7

8 you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:3-4) Contemporary knowledge of the universe is far removed from the understanding Jesus had. We know that the universe is vast. It is composed of billions and billions of galaxies. Each galaxy has billions and billions of stars. The star we know best - the sun - has planets, one of which is our home. The centre of the universe The second tier was the earth. Jesus believed that the earth was flat; it was supported by huge pillars. Like his contemporaries, he believed that the earth was God's creation and he praised God for the earth and all it produced to support life. The psalms reveal not only the battles they had with establishing themselves as a nation, but also and especially their belief that all good things came to them from God. In both the Old and New Testaments, there are references to elements of the cosmos as the Jews understood it - and these elements were very much connected with the earth and with the presence of God. Clouds The Jews considered the clouds to be a part of the cosmos. They were described by Jesus as a sign of the power and glory The Tent References to the Tent in the Old Testament identify the sacred place, the tabernacle - the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:7-11) - in the Israelite community in Jerusalem where they kept the Ark of the Covenant (the throne-like object in which they kept the stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments). The Ark of the Covenant was considered to be the throne on which the invisible God was seated when the pillar of cloud descended on the Tent of Meeting. The Jews did not have images of God. Instead, they created cultic objects - the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Covenant - to help them focus their worship of God. of the Temple, Jesus said: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30) The Jews had believed for more than a millennium that the clouds were signs of the presence of God within the people of Israel. In the Book of Exodus, it is reported: During all their wanderings they could see the cloud of the Lord s presence over the Tent during the day and a fire burning above it during the night. (40:38) The Jews used the word Shekinah to refer to the presence of God in the community, commonly in the Tabernacle, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Mountains and the wilderness of God. In his prediction of the destruction In Jewish cosmology, mountains and the wilderness were associated with the power and glory of God and also the power of evil. Consider the story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert (wilderness):... the Spirit made him go into the desert, where he stayed forty days, being tempted by Satan. Wild animals were there also, but 8

9 angels came and helped him. (Mark 1:12-13) This story reflects the Gospel for about 1500 years after Jesus walked the earth. The psalms - Marvelling at the power of God as creator of the universe. Today - much greater power The size of the expanding universe - quote from Morwood and from Davies. Text Questions for discussion Journal-writing activity theme of the cosmic battle between good and evil; and in the Book of Genesis, the context for creation is the very same battle. The creation of light and the separation of night from day represent the Jewish belief in the power of God over evil in the world. Task: OR OR Moses climbed Mount Sinai where he met God and was given the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). Jesus climbed Mount Tabor with Peter, James and John. While on top of the mountain, he was transfigured (Matthew 17:1-9). Jesus would have remembered the story of the Tower of Babel, which reminded all Jewish people that it was futile to contemplate reaching the stars. Only the Creator could do that. Beneath the earth... Jesus believed that the underworld, the third tier, existed. In his culture, many Jews believed that evil resided in the underworld. The first Christians, who were mostly Jews, believed that Jesus entered the underworld after he died and he released the just who were held there until they were redeemed through the death of Jesus. Compared with today and the modern understanding of the universe, the Jewish God was a "small town" God. Admittedly, they believed that God created the sun, the moon and the stars, but they believed that these were set in a dome above the earth. They would have found it ludicrous to hold that the sun was millions of kilometres from the earth. The Jews believed that the earth was the centre of the universe, a belief the Christians held 9

10 Year 10 Religious Education Assignment - the tic tac toe menu Discussion Activity 10

11 4.3 Celebrating the work of the Creator Creative Scripture Activity Complete one of the following activities: Design and present an audio-visual keynote or imovie based on verses taken from at least TWO of the following creation psalms: 8, 19, 33, 104, 148. Use what you are studying in Science this week to write a psalm praising God for the order and complexity/simplicity of the universe. Write a parable based on the understanding of the earth that Jesus had. Use the image that is supplied. 11

12 4.4 Doctrine It is a common myth that science has replaced superstition and religion as the way to establish a worldview. This myth also exists in the view that philosophy is the servant of science. Some people insist that the Catholic Church opposes both science and progress. Finally, others insist that a committed Christian cannot be a true and objective scientist. The impact of moving from a geocentric view of the universe to a heliocentric view Glossary Activity Learn how to spell the following words. dogma theology hypothesis geocentric heliocentric biblical revelation 12

13 4.4 Morality 13

14 Conclusion 14